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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJ_Modification Narrative_240312_v1.pdfEncompass ENGINEERING & SURVEYING February 21, 2024 City of Renton — Department of Community and Economic Development Attn: Alex Morganroth, Senior Planner 1055 S Grady Way Renton, WA 98057 Subject: Street Modification Narrative; Index Ave Townhomes, LUA23-000381 1709 Index Ave NE, APN 7227801935 Dear Alex, In response to the City's most recent email in our extended correspondence, dated February 19, 2024, we would like to accept the City -recommended modification to RMC 4-6-090. We believe modifying the requirements as recommended best executes the intent of the code and comprehensive plan, and best serves the community without levying an infeasible financial burden on the applicant for the following reasons: Findings RMC 4-6-090. C. APPLICABILITY: 2. Existing overhead power and utility facilities abutting a development or redevelopment site triggering street frontage improvements under RMC 4-6-060 shall be required to be relocated underground, pursuant to the standards of this Section. This development has frontage on NE 16`I' St and Index Ave NE. • NE 16`h St o Street frontage improvements are already installed along NE 161h St and were completed as part of City Improvement Project (CIP) within the last few years. The frontage improvements were installed along NE 161h St from Harrington to Jefferson. o It does not appear that the City undergrounded any overhead utilities when they made these frontage improvements even though that would have been the appropriate time to do that before installing new sidewalk, curb and bio planters. • Index Ave NE o New sidewalk was installed around the corner, as part of the NE 161h St CIP, for about 20 feet. o Frontage improvements are proposed along Index Ave NE. Western Washington Division Eastern Washington Division 165 NE Juniper St., Ste 201, Issaquah, WA 98027 108 East 2i" Street, Cle Elum, WA 98922 Phone: (425) 392-0250 Fax: (425) 391-3055 Phone: (S09)674-7433 Fax: (509) 674-7419 www.EncompassES.net City of Renton — Department of Community and Economic Development Index Ave Townhomes Narrative 02/21/2024 Page 12 For this development proposal to add two townhome units to the site, no frontage improvements are triggered by the project along NE 161" St as the City has already constructed them. Frontage improvements are triggered and proposed along Index Ave NE. RMC 4-6-090. D. EXEMPTIONS: h. iii. When an existing single-family home is served with overhead electrical power lines from a pole that also serves other properties. NE 161h St • It does not appear that the pole located at the corner of 16' and Index Ave includes any power lines that directly connect to any homes. • The pole appears to be a junction point for high voltage/primary lines that go east and west on 16"' and cross the street to provide power to the south side of 16ch Index Ave NE • The pole located in the NE corner of property on Index Ave does appear to have power lines to the existing duplex on our site as well as the duplex located on the lot to the north. The trigger for undergrounding is not present along NE 16`h St. The trigger may be present for the lower lines that connect to the existing duplex on Index. RMC 4-6-090. D. EXEMPTIONS: i. ii. The cost of undergrounding such a facility outweighs the general welfare consideration implicit in underground installation. The costs to underground the overhead utilities will likely be in excess of $300,000 . • We have a rough estimate of $225,000 for PSE to underground Primary and Secondary conductors. • This estimate does not include excavation, trenching, backfill, restoration, permits and easements. • It also doesn't include the cost for underground conversion of affected parcels with existing overhead power. • All overhead meterbases will need to be replaced with underground meterbases and new underground services will need to be run all at the cost to the property owner. • At this time we have not been able to procure cost estimates for other communication utilities that are also attached to the poles, but I anticipate additional fees from Comcast and Century Link. The extremely high costs to underground two sections of utilities for the addition of 2 midsize townhome units is unreasonably high and outweighs the public benefit from undergrounding City of Renton — Department of Community and Economic Development Index Ave Townhomes Narrative 02/21/2024 Page 13 the utilities. The fact that the City did not already underground these overhead utilities as part of the road improvement project they did on NE 16`t' St a few years ago further indicates that the cost was too high and the added benefit for the community was not sufficient to spend additional city funds to underground the power prior to improving the frontages with new sidewalks and landscaping. To underground utilities now would mean tearing up sections of those recently installed improvements and then having to replace them again, which is wasteful and costly. This is a very small development project to infill a couple units and maximize the R- 14 density allowance of the lot. In addition, just 3 blocks away on Kirkland Ave NE, there are two much larger townhome projects that were constructed in 2017 and 2019 which have frontage improvements. Neither of these developments undergrounded the power on Kirkland Ave NE which seems to indicate that undergrounding power in this neighborhood is not critical to the general welfare of the public and that frontage improvements don't always trigger the requirement. Analysis This small development will not be financially feasible with this full undergrounding power requirement, and as a result, the property would remain with only the existing duplex unit. The full density potential of the property could not be achieved because the construction and development costs overall would exceed the market value of new development. We do not believe this was the intent of the code when it was written. The City zoned this area R-14 to encourage infill and redevelopment. This adds new housing units and revitalizes an older part of the City. Many of the lots in the area are under-utilized with low value housing units. Request In the City's recent email dated February 19, 2024, the City offered an alternative which the applicant proposes to accept through this modification request. The City's recommendation included undergrounding the lower wires while leaving the higher wires above ground along Index Ave NE and crossing the intersection at NE 16th St. We agree with the City that this option is appropriate as it reduces visual noise and undergrounds the wires directly related to and impacted by the project proposal at a feasible cost. This option executes the intent of the code and supports comprehensive plan goals related to infill, affordable housing, and utility concurrency without levying unbearable costs in the process. Cnnclutinn If the costs to develop exceed the potential value of new dwelling units, then the projects become infeasible and the City continues to present a barrier to their own comprehensive plan goals. We respectfully request the Administrator remove the requirement to underground the upper primary power lines and take down the poles on both NE 16th St and Index Ave NE. There are lower wires along Index Ave NE and crossing the intersection at NE 16th St that the applicant is willing to underground in City of Renton — Department of Community and Economic Development Index Ave Townhomes Narrative 02/21/2024 Page 14 keeping with the compromise suggested by the City, acknowledging this will mean some disruption to the existing frontage improvements in NE 16"' St. Thank you for your consideration. Respectfully submitted, G - _ Z Amy Donlan Sam Salo Mike Elliott Land Use Planner Engineer Project Owner